Children as young as three are live streaming images of themselves to online predators, the Internet Watch Foundation has warned.

The organisation, which monitors abusive content online, said children were being groomed by strangers using a form of online game in which children agreed to activities such as "sexual posing" once they received a certain number of likes.

"As the “game” proceeds, the child may agree to other acts - the higher the number of likes, the greater the victimisation," the report said.

Footage was often filmed in a child's bedroom or a bathroom with the door closed, the researchers found.